Laughing Moon
by Lucency
Summary: A minx and a dragon go on a hunt for a reaper. [One-Shot]


Etka stood on the edge of a roof, tracking the man below them as he walked briskly down the street. His hat was pulled down low over his eyes. Though he was in the middle of the road, he angled close to the shadows. His long black robe trailed along behind him. The shirt underneath was deep purple, his pants adorned with numerous belt buckles. Though, his sense of fashion wasn't what caught her attention.

He was The Reaper. A serial killer, eater of human souls, and he wasn't from Death City. He was created in the deepest, darkest pits America had to offer. He was good at killing. He was quick and quiet about his murders, always slipping away before a meister-weapon pair could engage him. He killed and disappeared without a trace. Sometimes he left the bodies, sometimes he took them with him. Those bodies were never found. It was what earned him his name. The true extent of his power was unknown, but anyone with a high body count was bound to be strong.

Someone had drawn The Reaper to Death City. If Etka caught him, she would find the answer to 'who' herself. But that wasn't her priority. Eliminating him was first, interrogation was second. Just in the last week, he killed half a dozen people.

Etka brushed the dust off the front of her dress-shirt.

"You ready?" Her weapon-partner, Jomei, asked. He sat on the roof beside her, legs crossed. He didn't look away from the man they were trailing.

Etka held out a hand. "I trust you," she said back.

Jomei closed his eyes. "Don't drop me." His body turned to light as he transformed, and she caught the thick shaft of a longbow in her palm. Etka dropped to one knee, shutting her left eye as she lined the body of the bow up with her right side.

Grasping the lower limb with her left hand, she used her right to pull back on an arrow made of a fragment of Jomei's soul. Etka took a breath and held it, following The Reaper past a cluster of clothing shops. She waited she saw an opening, then let it fly. She followed up with two more arrows in the blink of an eye.

The first struck her target dead center, and he stumbled into a window. Glass shattered as he tumbled through the opening, inadvertently avoiding the other two arrows.

"What here caught your attention, monster?" she asked quietly.

The Reaper climbed back out in a rush, the windowsill stained with his blood. He was looking for her now, head moving back and forth as he scanned the rooftops. Etka was already moving from her position. She ran and leapt from the building she was on to the one next to it, rolling to her feet.

"Monster?" Jomei asked in that quiet, subdued way of his.

Etka paused. That was the wrong word to use. "I trust you," she said again. That seemed to appease him for now.

Meanwhile, The Reaper was attempting to make his grand escape. He dragged himself along the wall, leaning heavily to the side. The wound was deep and if he was human, it would've killed him before he realized he'd been hit. Etka shot a hole through his heart. If either of the other arrows hit him, the battle would be over. She dropped down and took aim again, just as a shadow appeared behind her. She only saw it because of the moon's light.

Etka spun and held Jomei up by the upper limb, clashing with a cleaver twice the width of her head. She managed to twist Jomei slightly at an angle, using the cleaver's weight and moment to send it crashing to the ground beside her. The roof tile cracked.

"You didn't warn me," she said, only slightly accusing.

"Wasn't looking," Jomei drawled.

"Jomei—"

"Sorry," he interrupted hastily. "I'm thinking too much. I'm working on it."

The wielded of the cleaver only looked a year or two older than her. He had spiky reddish-brown hair and a blue cloak tied loosely around his shoulders. He wore armored shoulder pads and a rust-red chest plate. He didn't look well-built, but he yanked the cleaver out of the ground and hefted it against his shoulder like it didn't weigh anything at all.

"So, you're from the DWMA," he said with a smile. "I'm impressed."

"Trust me," Jomei parroted back at her.

Etka nodded once. She pushed herself up, holding Jomei beside her. "And who, may I ask, are you?" She matched his smile with one of her own.

The guy tilted his head. "Kin. You can think of me as The Reaper's Shadow."

Etka snapped her fingers. "You were following him too."

"Not closely enough, obviously."

"And he doesn't know," she continued her revelation.

"Give the kid a cookie."

"Left." Etka held Jomei out sideways without looking, just as a blade scraped off his side.

"And you have friends," she chirped.

Kin's eyes flickered. "How strong is that bow of yours, I wonder? Let's test it and find out." He pivoted his body and swung the cleaver in a wide arc.

Etka's eyes slid to the left. His companion wore a fencer's mask and a baggy black and white bodysuit. He was watching and waiting, his rapier held at the ready. Etka threw herself at him.

He clearly wasn't expecting to take a fifteen-year-old to the chest and went down hard. As Etka fell, she twisted her body, shoving Jomei between her and her enemy. One quick shot to the head and his body began to unravel. She was a second away from facing severe blunt-force trauma as she landed on Jomei when the weapon's form slipped away from her hands. She landed on a soft body.

"You're a real pain in the ass, you know?" Jomei asked, muffled. His face was against the ground.

"I got a nice, tasty soul to make it up to you," Etka said, then rolled, coming up on her feet as the cleaver crashed down on the spot where she'd been laying.

"Tasty," Jomei mused. He had transformed to his weapon form and back in an instant to dodge the strike. He bounced the tainted soul in his palm, then tilted his head back and swallowed it whole.

"You're the third weapon I've seen," Kin said to him, leisurely closing the distance. "The first to eat a soul in front of me. You're not taking me seriously, are you?" he asked cheerfully, his smile plastic.

"Do you want us too?" Etka asked back as Jomei licked his fingers.

Kin looked between them. He nodded. "You represent the DWMA. I'd hate to get the impression that the students from there were naive and easy to kill."

Etka's returning smile was frosty. Jomei's stomach growled. "Will you be more filling than your friend?" he asked Kin.

Kin shook his head. "And now, if we're done playing..." He darted forward, swinging the cleaver at her side.

Etka caught Jomei in her waiting palm. She twisted the longbow to deflect the strike, only to see that Kin's left hand was empty. His right hand held the cleaver suddenly, and she barely spun out of the way as Kin tried to impale her.

She wasn't completely successful. Etka hissed at the long scratch that opened up along her side. It was a superficial wound, but it burned. "You poisoned the blade," she accused.

"No," Jomei answered.

"Of course I did," Kin said at the same time, pressing a finger against her blood on the tip of the cleaver.

Etka hesitated.

"I would've felt it," Jomei went on. "It would've disrupted your soul."

Kin stuck out his tongue and dabbed the blood on it like he was catching a snowflake.

"It burns, Jo."

"Internal heat," Jomei agreed.

Etka blinked. "What?"

"It's producing heat on the inside," he clarified.

Etka caught on. "It's like those devices they use in America to brand cows?"

"Would've felt if it was making heat before," Jomei thought aloud. "We gave him time to warm it up."

"I'm not a cow," Etka sniffed.

"Are you done? Can we fight now?" Kin asked. He sounded bored.

"Just a moment," Etka said, and Kin huffed. She could see it now, the waves of heat coming off the weapon. She squeezed the bow in her hands. Had Kin gotten a weapon like that made after the first demon-weapon he faced? The second?

"Keep your cool," Jomei grumbled. "I can't concentrate if your wavelength is all over the place."

"Can you take it?" Etka asked quietly, more seriously.

"Won't know until he hits me," Jomei drawled, which did not reassure her at all.

"Jo—mei," Etka stressed.

"Look, it's like this. Do you trust me to protect you as your weapon or not?" he asked, irritated.

There was only one answer. Etka released a long breath. "Right. Let's try to have fun, okay?" She smiled at Kin.

Kin stared at her, and then he laughed. "Still not taking me seriously? Alrighty then."

She maintained that fake smile. Etka was taking him seriously, but if he wanted to think she was some arrogant kid from the DWMA in over her head then who was she to correct him?

"Let's do Romeo and Juliet." The moment Jomei broke the silence, Etka shot an arrow. Kin twisted the cleaver so it hit the flat side and shattered into light. Etka stood still for a moment, her smile growing wide. Then she ran at him, shooting arrow after arrow at his legs, his arms, his head, but he blocked each and every shot with his cleaver.

Kin watched her from behind the safety of his weapon like she was an animal in a zoo and he was the spectator behind a glass, staring as she struggled futilely to escape her captivity. He was too used to winning.

Etka stopped just in front of him. It was easier to see the gaps in his armor up close. The seam where his right shoulder plate didn't quite match up to the armor on his arm. The chink in his cleaver, near the bottom. The spots on his chest where the rust was the thickest.

The heat was oppressive. In seconds, Etka was sweating profusely. Her arms felt like jelly. She shot, a weak arrow that clunked pathetically against his cleaver. He raised it above his head, intent on cutting her down with a single strike. She threw Jomei up to meet it.

_I trust you_, she thought.

The clash drove Etka to her knees, but she didn't let go, and Jomei didn't break.

"Is this fun yet?" Kin asked. He pushed harder, the edge of his cleaver glowing a bright, hot red. Etka ducked her head away from the searing heat.

Jomei held. "Three seconds," he choked out the warning, voice thin.

Three. Two...

Etka cried out and opened her hand before Jomei reached what he thought was his limit, making it appear like Kin knocked the bow out of her hands. Jomei clattered to the ground. Free of the weight holding it at bay, the cleaver jerked down. Kin pulled back, but not before the heat burned her shoulder more than any cut could have. She screamed and collapsed, curling in on herself. She ground her teeth together as pain radiated down her arm.

"Done with the game already?" Kin asked. "I told you I'd break your little toy, but did you listen?"

The tremble in her hand was real as she reached for Jomei with her uninjured arm. Her fingers closed around the string and she slowly, carefully pulled him closer to her. She pretended to fumble, flipping the bow so the broad side faced Kin.

"Jomei," Etka cried. "Jomei!"

Kin looked down at her with a wide smile. "So, do you want to keep playing until those cracks grow and grow until he breaks? Or do you want to be the first to die?"

If Kin knew anything about demon-weapons, he would've been able to differentiate an old wound from a fresh one. Jomei had a lot of scars from before he was brought to the DWMA, some that faded, others that left marks behind. The only new one Etka could see was a burn, charring the wood near the bottom.

"You won't pick?" Kin asked. He only looked more delighted by her glare. "I'll choose for you. Jomei can be first."

He crouched beside her. An amateur meister without their weapon was little more than fodder, they both knew that. What did Kin have to fear from her anymore?

Etka smiled faintly. A hand hovered around Jomei's middle, where an arrow would be. As Kin reached for Jomei, her fingers closed around one. He recoiled at the light—but too late. She sliced straight up.

Half a second, then there was a soft, wet, thump. Etka sat up as blood sprayed from the stump where Kin's hand used to be. The older boy stared at the stump in disbelief, then the severed appendage. She wiped the blood off her cheek.

"Oh, Kin. The game only ends when I say it does," Etka said sweetly.

Kin lifted his gaze to hers and she watched horror and panic settle in his eyes. Etka stood, gripping Jomei. It agitated her shoulder wound, but she lifted the bow and pulled an arrow back. It sunk deep into the seam in his shoulder.

It snapped him out of his stupor. He cried out, clutching and scratching at his armor, desperate to get the arrow out. The cleaver hit the tile with a hard thud.

Etka hummed. "Which would you like? A quick death, or to be tortured for information? I'm nice enough to let you choose."

Kin scrabbled and kicked against the ground with all the panic of someone who never experienced the cold grip of death. Before he could answer—if he would've—Jomei transformed back into himself. His back was to her.

"You've been pretty quiet. The plan worked. What's wrong?" Etka asked him.

Jomei answered by kicking Kin hard in the stomach. Kin choked and coughed and spit. "I don't want him to die yet. I'll get sick eating him."

"Jomei?" she asked, her smile hesitant.

Jomei kicked him again. Kin didn't react that time. "I broke our trust," Jomei muttered. "I didn't protect you."

Etka realized it then—the burn on her shoulder. She picked up Kin's severed hand and whacked him with it.

"What—ow, that hurt!"

"You're being dumb," Etka told him, tossing the limb away. "Using your head too much again."

Jomei turned away, but Etka grabbed his arm and twisted, exposing the dark, black-red marks circling his wrist. "He burned you too, you know."

He looked skyward. "Yeah, but—"

"Stop thinking," Etka ordered him. "Find my soul wavelength through the mess in your head."

Jomei looked at her. His eyes were dark pools. She stared right back at him. With a sigh, he closed his eyes. Etka counted to thirty-six before he opened them again. "How's your head?" she asked.

"Quiet," he murmured, pulling away. It was the same answer every time.

Etka threw the hand away. "Can we get back to collecting souls now?" she asked with a grin.

Jomei nudged Kin with his heel. "I think he died."

Etka blinked, then blinked again at the body failing to be kicked awake. After a particularly hard kick, Jomei stepped back. "Yeah. Dead."

"He can't be," Etka said. "He still has his soul."

Jomei made a face but went back to prodding Kin with his sneaker.

"You think we lost the serial killer?"

"No," Jomei said. "He's lost enough blood to leave a trail. He couldn't have cleaned it up on his own."

"He could've had help. Kin had a friend, remember?" Etka pointed out.

Jomei pushed Kin onto his back. Blood was smeared down his front and pooled between their feet. 'The Reaper's Shadow' was pale, his breathing labored and raspy. "I'll eat him," he said, reluctantly.

"I wish we had time to take him back to the DWMA," Etka mused, shaking her head. Their only chance on a lead and she had to kill him. She held out her hand as Jomei turned to look at her and he transformed. She planted a foot on Kin's stomach. A single shot to the head and his body unraveled. His soul was red with pockets of blue. He'd eaten human souls, but only a few, not enough to lose his humanity completely.

Jomei grasped it as himself, turning it to inspect the blue bits. His lips pulled into a frown.

"It's not the same," Etka said before he could get lost in his head again. "He chose to eat human souls. He's not human."

Jomei squeezed the soul, nodding. He ate it, then stuck out his tongue in disgust. "I knew it."

Etka gestured for him to follow her and headed after The Reaper.

He had help in getting away. From her position on the roof she could see where he'd fallen from the wall, the splatter where he hit the ground. The line leading away, where he'd been dragged between two people.

Jomei stepped up to the edge. "Can't go back until we find him."

Etka nodded, tucking a wayward strand of brown hair behind her ear. "It'll be a black mark on our reputation, for sure," she agreed.

She and Jomei went from roof to roof, following the trail of footprints and blood to Hook Cemetery. Etka stopped when she spotted four masked individuals and the Reaper, held between two more. They pulled him past the tombstones and graves, toward the mausoleum.

It took all of Etka's willpower to stand up straight. Hopping from roof to roof caused a persistent, painful twinge in her side. She felt it every time she breathed in. Her shoulder felt tight and stiff and it was hard to lift her arm. "We can take six, can't we?" she asked.

"Not close enough," Jomei said with a shrug. The roof they were on was on the outskirts of the cemetery, the closest they could get with a high vantage point. "Can't get them all before they get him in the mausoleum."

Etka smoothed the wrinkles in her skirt. "Let's take all six," she said with a smile.

Jomei shuddered. "I hate resonating."

"Not that one," Etka said, shaking her head. "Scattershot. All you need to do is amplify me. It'll be enough, don't you think?"

Jomei closed his eyes. He looked slightly green. "I trust you," he muttered, and Etka caught him as he turned into a bow.

She closed her eyes and extended her senses within and beyond herself, feeling around until she found Jomei's soul. She pictured it in her head. Blue, stained with splotches of red. But so, so blue. She concentrated solely on him, tuning and refining her soul's wavelength until it matched his. Enough to connect them, for her to feel his anxiety, his fear, his tentative trust in her. She toed the line between partial and complete resonance and Jomei magnified her, making her stronger than she ever could be on her own.

Etka's eyes shot open. She dropped to one knee and aimed at the group closing in on the mausoleum, drawing the bow string back as far as it would go. She closed her left eye and focused, fabricating an arrow out of their souls' combined wavelength. It glowed brighter than the moon. She held her breath and after a beat, let it fly.

It sailed through the air like a star, attracting the attention of the six around The Reaper. At the last second, before it sunk into its target, one of the masked figures stepped into the path of the arrow. It hit them dead center and went straight through, absorbed by their body.

Etka stood.

The glow brightened as their combined wavelength uncoiled inside the masked person. The light spread outwards from where the arrow hit, growing and growing until they were encased in blue-white light. The other five shouted at their companion and each other. One yelled at the others to get The Reaper to the mausoleum, another shouted to take cover, a third screamed to find the meister-weapon pair responsible.

The masked figure burst like an overfilled balloon and arrows exploded in every direction. The five other masked figures were shredded to pieces before they could move. The Reaper was more resilient. He tried to push himself up, but was overcome by all the arrows sticking out of his body. He collapsed in the dirt and revealed his soul to them.

Jomei sat heavily next to her, breathing hard. "Now I'm starving."

"Let's go collect those souls. Then we can stop at that Italian restaurant on the way home." Etka was starving too. The difference was that when she used up her energy her body demanded carbs, not souls.

He picked at a blood stain on his shirt, slightly covering part of a faded dragon. "No. We go to the DWMA first to have your wounds looked at."

"Pasta first," Etka said with a smile.

Jomei looked skyward. "You're going to die of blood loss."

"At least I'll die satisfied," she said back.

Jomei shook his head. "You'll die before we order."

"You underestimate how hungry I am."

Jomei stood and sighed. "Fine. But if you die, I'll drag you back from the afterlife just to say that I was right."

Etka nodded. "How many souls are we at now?"

"Seventy-eight."

"Twenty-two more to go! Let's go." Etka hopped off the roof without another word, Jomei behind her.

* * *

**A/N: **Because why not? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
